The wicked plots against the righteous

The wicked plots against the righteous [L’shon HaChaveirim – In the language of the companions] “The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes upon him his teeth; Hashem laughs at him, for He sees that his day will come” (Psalms 37:12–13).

The matter is thus: it is difficult—from where would come a foreign thought ( machshavah zarah ) to a tzaddik who desires to pray with great attachment (i.e. deep deveikut )? Surely our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said (Yoma 38b): “One who comes to purify—they help him.” But the matter is thus: From the time of the Shattering ( haShevirah ) [i.e. Shevirat haKelim , “the Breaking of the Vessels” in Lurianic Kabbalah], sparks ( nitzotzot ) fell from all the worlds. And by means of the prayers of the tzaddikim, they ascend little by little—level after level. And when a tzaddik stands to pray and binds himself to the attribute [ middah ] that he is now in—then falls to him a foreign thought from the kind of that attribute. And when he comes to a greater level, a foreign thought falls to him from the kind of this attribute that he is now in [i.e., as he ascends, deeper impurities surface—each from the corresponding level]. And the tzaddik must know from which attribute, and from which world, is this foreign thought. And he must know with what to elevate it—to that world and to that attribute he is now in. But sometimes the tzaddik wants to elevate it, but he cannot. The reason is: a foreign thought fell to him from a higher level, one which he has not yet reached. Therefore it is impossible for him to elevate it—because he is still in a lower level than that; namely, the level he is in now. But it is difficult: why did the foreign thought come to him before its time? Know: I have a tradition in my hand, that when there is controversy ( machloket ) against a certain tzaddik, then a foreign thought—of the kind of that controversy—falls to another tzaddik. And through the fact that he wants to elevate it, even though he does not elevate it—nonetheless, he breaks, by the power of the will, all the masters of the controversy. And this is the explanation of the verse: “The wicked plots”—this is the foreign thought against the tzaddik. “And gnashes his teeth at him”—that is, that he (the tzaddik) wants to elevate it. “Hashem laughs at him”—for He sees that his day will come, i.e. that he has not yet arrived at the level of this foreign thought. But from where did this foreign thought come to him? “The wicked drew their sword”—and Rashi explains: “Sword, a term of war”—that is, that controversy was aroused against a certain tzaddik. “Their sword”—that is, the foreign thought from that controversy “will come into their heart”—that is, into the heart of this (other) tzaddik. And through the fact that he wants to elevate it—by the power of this will their bows will be broken Meaning: the aforementioned controversy